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Copyright & Multimedia

Copyright and Your Multimedia Project

Copyright is very important to understand in the world we live in today, especially as you create your own multimedia projects at Georgetown University. Copyright law can be intimidating, confusing, and difficult to follow, but if you ever plan to share your project, it is very important to make sure that your use of third-party media is legal. To be completely safe, follow this simple rule: be completely original with your project, and don’t use ANY content that you didn’t create yourself unless you have documented permission to use it.

Of course, there are times when you may want to use someone else's work to bolster your project: photographs, music, or existing video. But can you just grab whatever you want online? It may seem easy to download a photo that you like from Google Images, but it is irresponsible to take whatever you want without permission. Plus, you could be liable for copyright infringement. In the world we live in, intellectual property is an important commodity, and people who toil to bring their ideas to life are entitled to certain rights regarding those things they create. So where does that leave you?

Fortunately there are scenarios where it is okay to use copyrighted material without explicit permission from the copyright holder. To learn more, proceed to the next tab: What Can I Use?

Did you know that almost everything is copyrighted?

It is important to understand what is copyrighted and what is not -- it may not be as intuitive as you think. Here are a few important facts to know:

Copyright is automatic.Generally, once a work is put into a fixed format, then the owner has certain exclusive rights to that work, including the right to make copies or “derivative works”, such as multimedia projects. This includes all kinds of works, including photographs, poetry, videos, software code, video games, choreography, sheet music, recorded music, and more.

Attribution is not a substitute for permission.Giving credit to a photographer or recording company does NOT entitle you to use that work. However, many works will require you to give attribution to the author if you use them in your project. Receiving permission will not only protect you from legal action, it is also respectful and the right thing to do.

Publicly available does not mean public domain.The fact that you can easily find multimedia does not mean that you have a right to use it.

What Can I Use?

Materials in the Public Domain.Works that are in the public domain are no longer, or never were, protected by copyright law. For example, anything created by the federal government is public domain -- everybody owns it! Also, almost any work published on or before December 31, 1922 is not protected. Some things, like data, methods, or processes are simply never protected. On the whole, though, there is not very much multimedia content that is in the public domain. Visit Wikipedia's entry on the Public Domain for more information or the Stanford Copyright & Fair Use site’s Public Domain section.

Materials with a Usable Creative Commons License.The Creative Commons is a non-profit organization created to facilitate sharing content by creating an organized system of permissions. By marking your work with specific Creative Commons symbols, they provide ready-made licenses that tell other people exactly how the work can and cannot by used. Today, you will see these symbols and licenses throughout the web. Be warned that there is a wide range of licensing and permissions -- do not assume that all licenses are the same. Some users may allow you to use their images/music/video for non-profit use, but not for commercial projects. It is also common for most copyright holders to insist on attribution somewhere in your project. Learn more about the various licenses here.

Materials with Permission from the Copyright Holder.Direct, verifiable permission from the real copyright holder is the ultimate safe bet. However, this can be difficult or time-consuming to obtain, and may not be necessary.

Can I Claim Fair Use?

"Fair use is the right, in some circumstances, to [use] copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. Fair use enables the creation of new culture, and keeps current copyright holders from being private censors." (Center for Social Media, American University)

Under the fair use doctrine, you may use limited portions of copyrighted material in your work without the permission of the copyright owner. Before using media under the fair use doctrine, however, you will need to evaluate whether your use qualifies as fair, which must be done on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration the following four factors:

The purpose and character of your use

The nature of the copyrighted work

The amount and substantiality of the portion taken

The effect of the use upon the potential market

In short, the fair use determination will depend on how much of the copyrighted work you are using and how you are using it. The sites listed below explain these four factors in depth and will help you evaluate whether your use qualifies as fair use.

Learn More About Fair Use

Center for Social Media: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video (pdf) “This document is a code of best practices that helps creators, online providers, copyright holders, and others interested in the making of online video interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances” (Center for Social Media, 2008).

Tests for Fair Use

There are limits to using copyrighted materials, even if you are a student or a faculty member. To be safe, try out some of these resources to evaluate that you are using copyrighted materials "fairly":

Warning!

Make sure that you understand the basics of Copyright and Fair Use before you consider using third-party multimedia content for your multimedia projects. You can find this information by clicking on the tabs to the left (What is Copyright, What Can I Use, Can I Claim Fair Use). Below, we have listed several sites with videos that you may be able to use in your projects without getting permission from the copyright holder. Be sure to check the copyright/license status and be sure it matches with your use - it is your responsibility to determine that your use of 3rd party materials is legal!

YouTube is platform that allows users to watch videos that have been uploaded and shared by other users videos. There is a very broad range of videos which are created not only by individuals but also by organizations and corporations. To get CC-licensed videos, set the filter to “Creative Commons” when you get your search results.

Vimeo is another platform that allows users to watch videos that have been uploaded and shared by other users videos. Vimeo has a page where you can browse all of their Creative Commons licensed videos.

Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed media content. Wikimedia Commons has a page where you can browse all of their Creative Commons licensed videos.

This library contains digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.

Warning!

Make sure that you understand the basics of Copyright and Fair Use before you consider using third-party multimedia content for your multimedia projects. You can find this information by clicking on the tabs to the left (What is Copyright, What Can I Use, Can I Claim Fair Use). Below, we have listed several sites with videos that you may be able to use in your projects without getting permission from the copyright holder. Be sure to check the copyright/license status and be sure it matches with your use - it is your responsibility to determine that your use of 3rd party materials is legal!

Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed media content. Wikimedia Commons has a page where you can browse all of their Creative Commons licensed audio files, including music, spoken word, and other sounds. The Legal Music for Videos page at Creative Commons has links to additional sites for CC-licensed audio files.

This library contains recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by users. Many are available for free download.

Warning!

Make sure that you understand the basics of Copyright and Fair Use before you consider using third-party multimedia content for your multimedia projects. You can find this information by clicking on the tabs to the left (What is Copyright, What Can I Use, Can I Claim Fair Use). Below, we have listed several sites with videos that you may be able to use in your projects without getting permission from the copyright holder. Be sure to check the copyright/license status and be sure it matches with your use - it is your responsibility to determine that your use of 3rd party materials is legal!

Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed media content. Wikimedia Commons has a page where you can browse all of their Creative Commons licensed images.

Europeana provides access to millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, and archives. After getting your search results, use the "Can I use it" or "By copyright" options to limit your results to public domain or open access images.

Artstor's collections can be used by the Georgetown community for noncommercial educational and scholarly uses. Please note that our license allows images from Artstor to be posted only on websites that are restricted to Georgetown users. Some images in Artsor are licensed for academic publishing under the the Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) program. You can limit your search to IAP images by adding "IAP" to your search query. An icon reading "IAP" appears under the thumbnail image in your search results.

Access to ARTStor is available on-campus or off-campus with a Georgetown NetID and password.